This article discusses accusations brought by ANSI (Adoption Support Network of Ireland) that the government reneged on promises made four years ago in regard to opening adoption records in Ireland.

The ASNI is the first National organisation of its kind to comprise of adopted people, natural parents, adoptive parents, natural family members and other interested parties whose lives have been affected by Ireland’s closed secret adoption system.

Reference is made in this article to the fact that Irish adoption legislation is "embarrassingly out of date in comparison with England." England released adoption files to adopted people in the 1970's.

“Worse still’, she added, “a highly draconian proposal to fine, or even jail people for trying to trace a relative, is now effectively back on the agenda.”

The draconian proposal to fine people for trying to trace a relative is not so far off the mark in America. Some states have fines or jail sentences imposed for illegally disclosing birth information in a file. Other states allow the release of adoption records, but with various restrictions.

The differences from state to state are quite dramatic. Only five states in the United States allow unrestricted access to adoption records. However, there are many other variations. In some states, access to adoption records is allowed unless there is a veto in the file requesting no contact.

In at least one state, access is allowed with permission of the birth parents. This is of course problematic since many people who want their birth certificates do not know the identity of their birth parents. Access to records in some states depends on when an adoptee was born. If you were born in the right time frame, you might be able to obtain your records. Conversely, you may be out of luck if you happened to be born in the wrong year.

Both America and Ireland are lagging behind in the open records movement. Access to adoption records has been allowed in many other countries for years without restriction.

Further Reading:

Ireland

And Then a Miracle Happened.

Adoption Search in Ireland.

Photo by Jan Baker 2007